Punch You In The Face
Okay, so something or other is happening in the Republican Party and it’s become a nightmare that makes you giggle.
They are torturing each other. They are fighting, physically assaulting each other. It’s more fun than recess in heaven.
I’m going to take a while telling this story because it’s such a damn good one.
It brings to mind for me a trial my youngest son was in recently. The opposing counsel lost three motions in a row, fair and square, because he hadn’t bothered to understand the very basics of civil court rules. The unprepared lawyer became enraged, not at himself for failing to do his homework, but at my baby boy who had done his homework. His rage grew to the point of yelling and snarling until the judge stepped in and issued a warning.
However, after the judge left the courtroom, Mr. Unprepared, Attorney at Law, went wacko, waving his arms, yelling, and shooting the bird at my son, and then doubling his fists. This was stoopid for many reasons. You know reasons like the fact that my son was the youngest of three good-sized brothers so he had to fight if he wanted to eat, he played football in high school and rugby in college, at 6 foot tall he was the shortest of the other three lawyers on his team in the courtroom, and – probably most damning, there were two professional cameras – HBO and the Law and Crime Network – on opposite sides of the courtroom recording the whole damn thing. It was then that Bill, one of my son’s partners who looks like he ate a buffalo for breakfast, stood up. Bill doesn’t stand up as much as he unfolds because there’s so damn much of him. Bill didn’t say a word but his eyes said, “You may get the first punch, but I’m going to get the second 8 punches.” Things suddenly got better.
Republicans don’t have a Bill.
They just threaten each other and fight.
It’s beginning to look like everyday is a new skirmish between Republicans. I remember Adam Kinsinger claiming that Kevin McCarthy punched him on purpose and now Tim Burchett got a McCarthy elbow to the kidney punch.
Senator Markwayne Mullin told the head of the United Brotherhood of Teamsters to get his butt out of his chair and fist fight in the pit of the hearing room. Had it not been for Bernie Sanders being horrified that a United States Senator wanted to go a few rounds of a no rules fight in the United States Senate, no telling what would have happened.
I know I could go on and on with other examples, but there will be others before I even get this posted.
One more thing – I’m getting kinda worried about Mike Johnson. Something’s not right about that guy. I’ve got myself a creepy feeling about him. Real creepy.
Joanne Freeman’s ‘In the Field of Blood’ about antebellum congressional violence features my Whig ancestor Big Waddy Thompson (who should be familiar to all the Texans here for his role in the war of independence) as a brawler brought to heel by a press boycott.
Reverse dynamic at work today.
When Senator McCarthy mugged the pipsqueak Drew Pearson, it was a (figurative) black eye for Joe. Markwayne’s bluster, I expect, will play well in alta Tejas.
But the bottom line is, party discipline has disappeared in GOPland.
1I don’t think your youngest son needed Bill’s help in court or out in the parking lot, but the two together- watch out.
2I mentioned in Nick’s piece below that there are a whole bunch of gob Congress critters that like the bad boy and girl image (beligerant jackasses) and unfortunately, many gop voters gravitate to that because they think it makes them look tough.
I enjoy it when they are eating each other’s faces these days- pushing, elbowing and name calling. Maybe a duel is next.
All humor aside–sorry, JJ–the promotion of violence by the Orange Defendant resulted in death and injury on Jan 6 and, just last night, a mob calling for a cease-fire in Gaza tried to storm the DNC headquarters trapping several Congresscritters inside. Once again, the Capitol Police had to wade in and several of them got injured. Interestingly, several hundred thousand people marched on the Mall in support of Israel a couple of days ago. There were no arrests or incidents by the participants. Of course, several bus drivers refused to transport some would-be participants and they were stuck at Dulles airport and had to return home without getting anywhere near the Mall.
So, the belligerence of the Rethugs and those supporting Hamas is making me seriously nervous.
3Bernie’s third rule of Fight Club, is it ain’t the US Senate.
4. . . “I’m getting kinda worried about Mike Johnson. Something’s not right about that guy. I’ve got myself a creepy feeling about him. . .”
Repugs can only get worse, they can’t do better. Its not in their philosophy or genetic makeup. I first noticed it when Reagan would fire or retire some criminal Administration team member, then hire someone even worse. Bush2/Cheney were worse times 10. Democrats and the Public shot down some of their worst policies and people, theyd pop up with new, more execrable ideas & people.
And with Trump/MAGA that tendency became fixed purpose. Everything they say & do, every person they set up as a leader, is magnitudes worse than the one before.
5Icky clue #1 for Speaker Mike is that he’s apparently proud of having a pact with his teenage son to monitor each others… um… self pleasure with an app.
Completely the opposite of one of my mom’s mantras – “there are some things I don’t want to know.”
6Just heard that from an ex representative/Senator that the fight initiated from the fact that 2name boy was taunted by the witness for having to use a step on a podium at some speech or another so to look taller. Damn! I didn’t know that was a fightin’ excuse, at 5′ I always use a step.
7You just can’t fix stupid.
I agree with you 100%. The guy also gives me the creeps. It strikes me that he’d have that same self-satisfied smirk on his face as he was holding your head underwater too long while he was baptising the sin out of you.
They sure know how to pick ’em.
8We need to start referring to them as The Party of Scut Farkas and Grover Dill, maybe demand to check them for yellow eyes. Jean Shepard would surely approve.
Mr. Speaker is resembles someone Barry Sadler created for his Brotherhood of the Lamb subplots
9I recall long, long ago learning about a Congress Critter who whaled the tar out another Congress Critter. I simply thought that was cuz our country was still more like a baby just about to learn how to roll over and that it was just a “one off” but boy, howdy, I wuz wrong! The Senator from OK just might somehow be related to the cane swinger of the 19th century. Just glad that Bernie is still as fiesty as ever! And as for Mike Johnson, I get the same reading as you do, JJ. There is just not something right about him and I ain’t speaking politics.
10You’re right about Mike Johnson — he makes me think about Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre: what’s he hiding in the attic? As for these GOP physical fights, that’s Brown Shirt activity, we should be watchful!
11When Mike Johnson was first elected, he said he would not follow his predecessor into the Freedom Caucus. Instead he would focus his efforts on being a member of the Republican Study Group. You know, the reich wingers the Freedom Caucus escaped from. I never trusted either of these aholes and was proud to cast my vote against them. Unfortunately, their lies convinced the deplorables that they were a good fit. I no longer live in that district and feel somewhat better about where I am now. That is with the exception of Cruz and Cornyn.
12Mikey is trying to work his *religion* Creationism into his job – not working .
13Miz JJ, you are right on about Mike Johnson. NEVER trust a member in good standing of “Holy Hypocrites R Us.” To call him a snake in the grass is to malign snakes.
14Remember the biggest bully in your seventh grade class? I’ll guarantee you he votes NSGOP. That is, if he votes at all. And if he doesn’t, he still probably has a Trump flag on his magnum-sized pickup truck to go with the God Bless Our Troops bumper sticker and the Confederate flag sticker in the back window.
These guys think that to be ‘tough’ is the highest aspiration of manhood, and that it’s perfectly OK to demonstrate your toughness by throwing sucker punches and beating up people smaller than yourself. After all, that’s what bullies do.
15Jeez why do we need a democratic government when we can just duke em out?
Me thinks creepy Rapture Ready Mike ‘Armageddon’ Johnson is probably gay and is still seeking revenge on a spurned lover.
“Surprise: Mike Johnson Once Worked With a Conversion Therapy Group That Claimed It Could Turn Gay People Straight”
16https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/11/mike-johnson-conversion-therapy-group
I think it likely his conversion therapy group gave him some stimulation, if you know what I mean.
17And what is he hiding in his finances with zero substance in his required disclosure as a congress critter? Maybe getting some pointers from Santos.
“…I’m getting kinda worried about Mike Johnson. Something’s not right about that guy. I’ve got myself a creepy feeling about him…”
Johnson is counting on the Rapture taking away any of his problems stemming from his day job. Israel is in war, and when the North and West rise up…
18Oh I think, Mikey is nervous that someone is rip off his closet door, and expose his deep hypocrisy. Oh I do think Mikey has a pet rock somewhere…maybe it’s George Santos.
19Cathy @ 7: I cannot attest to the provenance of this photo, but it’s got a big red cirlce:
https://thelostogle.com/2022/08/05/report-markwayne-mullin-is-a-tiny-little-man
What I cannot understand is why anyone would measure the quality of a person by their height. Maybe if you’re putting together a basketball team, but not for choosing a representative or senator. It’s like the least relevant aspect of a person. Tammy Duckworth may be stuck in a wheelchair, but she stands far above Mullin as a human and as a politician.
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